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Iranian official: Transferring Caspian Sea water to inland to lead to ecological disaster

Transferring water from the Caspian Sea to the central desert of Iran will lead to an ecological disaster, the Mehr News Agency quoted Iran's environment protection organization official Abdolreza Karbasi as saying.

Water desalination systems will add 32 million tons of salt to the Caspian Sea water per year, which is a disaster for the ecology of the sea, he added.

Currently, the Caspian Sea water holds 13 grams of salt per liter of water. If 250 million cubic meters of water is transferred annually to Semnan, some 32 million tons of salt will be added to the sea, he explained.

In April, ex-Energy Minister Majid Namjou said that Iran will start operations to transfer water from the Caspian Sea to the central parts of the country in the near future.

The required budget, which is about 20 trillion rials (about $800 million), has been provided, he added.

According to officials, some 200 million cubic meters of water is projected to be transferred per year to the central parts of the country.

The project will be completed by March 2016.

In October 2012, the Iranian energy ministry received the permission to transfer water from the Caspian Sea to central parts of the country.

The Caspian Sea water transfer project would send 500 million cubic meters of desalinated water from the Caspian to central Iran annually.